Distributed computer system for telecommunications operational support

ABSTRACT

In one particular embodiment, the disclosure is directed to a distributed computer system for use in connection with telecommunications operational support. The distributed computer system includes a common integration communications element, a telecommunication related business application, an adapter module, and an integrated services module. The adaptor module is coupled to the common integration communications element, and is responsive to the telecommunications related business application. The integrated services module is also coupled to the common integration communications element.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure in general relates to a distributed computer system foruse in connection with telecommunications operational support.

BACKGROUND

Changes in the laws relating to the telecommunications industry haverequired certain telephone companies to provide shared access to commontelecommunications resources. Often, a single company manages thesecommon telecommunications resources. As a result, this single companyprovides access to operational support systems to various competitors,customers, consumers, and vendors. However, the current operationalsupport systems are often single-purpose, inflexible systems that arecostly to maintain or enhance. In addition, many companies have multipletelecommunications resources supported by many different single-purposesystems for differing regions. Sharing these resources is complicated bythe need to support multiple access protocols and diverse resourcesupport systems. In one example, regional laws require that competitivelocal exchange carriers (CLEC) be given access to operational supportsystems managed by incumbent local exchange carriers (ILEC) to providebilling, fulfillment, and assurance support.

Sharing resources is further complicated by mergers and acquisitions oflocal exchange carriers. With a merger or acquisition, the survivinglocal exchange carrier faces the problem of supporting multiple diverselegacy systems performing similar functions, or investing considerablecapital to replace or standardize the various operational supportsystems.

As such, many problems exist in providing access to operational supportsystems. Accordingly, there is a need for improved computer systems fortelecommunications operational support.

SUMMARY

In one particular embodiment, the disclosure is directed to adistributed computer system for use in connection withtelecommunications operational support. The distributed computer systemincludes a common integration communications element, atelecommunication related business application, an adapter module, andan integrated services module. The adaptor module is coupled to thecommon integration communications element, and is responsive to thetelecommunications related business application. The integrated servicesmodule is also coupled to the common integration communications element.

In another embodiment, the disclosure is directed to an enterpriseintegration architecture. The enterprise integration architectureincludes a plurality of user access elements, a distributed computingsystem infrastructure, a plurality of telecommunication related softwareapplication services, a plurality of telecommunication network computingresources, and an integration services platform. The distributedcomputing system infrastructure is responsive to each of the pluralityof user access elements. The plurality of telecommunication relatedsoftware application services are responsive to the distributedcomputing system infrastructure. The plurality of telecommunicationnetwork computing resources includes business management resources,operational support resources, and external enterprise communicationresources. The integrated services platform provides a commonservice-oriented interface to the plurality of telecommunication relatedsoftware application services. The integration services platform mayalso retrieve system specific data from the plurality oftelecommunication network computing resources.

In a further embodiment, the disclosure is directed to a distributedcomputer system. The distributed computer system includes a plurality ofcustomer channel access interfaces, an application services framework, acommon integration services framework, and a distributed infrastructuresystem. The application services framework is coupled to the pluralityof customer channel access interfaces and includes billing, fulfillment,and customer assurance functionality. The application services frameworkmay have a distributed infrastructure interface. The common integrationservices framework includes a plurality of shared layered integrationservices. The common integration services framework may also have adistributed infrastructure interface. The distributed infrastructuresystem has a plurality of distributed network computing elements and isresponsive to the distributed infrastructure interfaces.

In an additional embodiment, the disclosure is directed to a furtherdistributed computing system. The distributed computing system includesa plurality of customer channel access interfaces, an applicationservices framework, a common integration of services framework, adistributed infrastructure system, and a plurality of resource channels.The application services framework is coupled to the plurality ofcustomer channel access interfaces. The application services frameworkincludes billing, fulfillment, and customer assurance functionality andhas a first distributed infrastructure interface. The common integrationservices framework includes a plurality of shared layer integrationservices and has a second distributed infrastructure interface. Thedistributed infrastructure system has a plurality of distributed networkcomputing elements and is responsive to the first and second distributedinfrastructure interfaces. The plurality of resource channelscommunicates with telecommunication network resources. Thesetelecommunication network resources may be legacy systems havingproprietary interfaces and adaptors to allow the legacy systems to beaccessed by at least one resource channel.

In another embodiment, the disclosure is also directed to a method forintegrating an information technology element associated with atelecommunications network system and a distributed computing system.The method includes the steps of attaching an adaptor component to theinformation technology element and, coupling the adaptor component to aresource channel of the distributed computing system. The resourcechannel is coupled to a distributed infrastructure system having aplurality of distributed network computing elements. The distributedinfrastructure system supports an application services framework and acommon integration services framework. The application servicesframework includes telecommunications billing, fulfillment and customerservice functionality. The common integration services frameworkincludes a plurality of shared integration services.

The disclosure is further directed to a distributed computer systemincluding an interconnection service, a distributed communicationsinfrastructure, an application service, and an integration service. Theinterconnection service is coupled to a plurality of access interfaces.The distributed communications infrastructure is coupled to theinterconnection service. The application service is coupled to thedistributed communications infrastructure, and the application serviceincludes billing, fulfillment and customer assurance functionality. Theintegration service is coupled to the distributed communicationsinfrastructure and includes product management, customer informationmanagement, and service level agreement management functionality.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1, 2, 3 and 4 depict exemplary embodiments of an enterpriseintegration architecture.

FIG. 5 depicts an exemplary embodiment of a business applicationservice.

FIGS. 6, 7, 8, and 9 depict exemplary embodiments of a businessintegration service.

FIG. 10 depicts an exemplary method for domain object usage.

FIG. 11 depicts an exemplary embodiment of a business integrationservice.

FIG. 12 depicts an exemplary method for resource system access.

FIGS. 13 and 14 depict exemplary embodiments of a business integrationservice.

The use of the same reference symbols in different drawings indicatessimilar or identical items.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

An enterprise integration architecture system is described that enablesa diverse set of access systems to communicate with a diverse set ofresource systems through a common integrated system architecture. Theenterprise integration architecture provides a common framework that canbe leveraged when integrating a diverse set of telecommunicationstechnologies and vendor equipment. Efficient and accurate datacommunications are provided using various exemplary embodiments ofenterprise integration architectures, business integration services,adaptors, common integration busses, or common network resources.

FIG. 1 depicts a particular embodiment of an enterprise integrationarchitecture. The architecture includes a business application service102 in communication with a common integration bus 106 through anadaptor 104. In addition, a business integration service 108, a businessintegration service shared workspace 114, and a business integrationservice 122 are connected to the common integration bus 106.

The business application service 102 may take the form of one or moreservers and may, for example, include client applications that requestservices of the business integration services 108 and 122, and thebusiness integration service shared workspace 114. Users may use thebusiness application service 102 to access various data and performvarious functions associated with the business integration services tierincluding the business integration services 108 and 122, and thebusiness integration service shared workspace 114. In turn, the businessintegration services 108 and 122 may access distributed resourcesthrough various applications 112, 126, and 130 and the businessintegration service shared workspace 114. The resource systems mayinclude diverse and distributed operational support systems for localexchange carriers, vendors, competitors, trading partners, data storagesystems, and other systems. In effect, the business integration servicesystems 108, 114, and 122 function to mediate the disparate data andfunctions resident in the resource systems by providing a consistentfunctional interface to client applications. The business integrationservice systems 108, 114, and 122 may provide additional functionalcapabilities not supported by the resource systems.

The business integration services 108 and 122 and the businessintegration services shared workspace 114 represent one or more serversystems providing computing functions and data to the businessapplication service 102 through the common integration bus 106 andadaptor 104. The business integration services 108 and 122 access one ormore remote resource systems or applications 112, 126 and 130 throughvarious adaptors 110, 124 and 128. The remote resources may includedatabases, usage systems, PREMIS systems, ASON systems, TIRKS® systems,Service Order Retrieval Distribution (SORD) systems, and CRIS systems.The business integration services 108 and 122 are organized to accesssuch remote resources to acquire data or perform a requested functionand to relay the data or result to the business application service 102.The business integration services 108 and 112 may perform functions suchas product management, customer information management, ordermanagement, network resource management, service management, locationinformation management, usage management, rating and pricing, billpreparation, and trouble administration.

For example, the business application service 102 may access data orfunctionality associated with the business integration service 108through the adaptor 114 and communications integration bus 106. Thebusiness integration service 108 accesses a resource or application 112through an adaptor 110 and provides data or function results to thebusiness application service 102. As illustrated in connection with thebusiness integration service 108, a single application 112 may beaccessed through an adaptor 110. Alternately, one or more applicationsmay be accessed by a given business integration service through variousadaptors. For example, business integration service 122 may accessapplications 126 and 130 through adaptors 124 and 128, respectively. Inaddition, the business application service 102 may access the businessintegration shared workspace 114. This business integration sharedworkspace 114 may be coupled with data 116, process states 120 and rules118. In this manner, data 116, process states 120, and rules 118 may beserved or applied from a business integration service tier withoutaccessing a remote resource application.

The business application service 102 may, for example, provide billing,fulfillment, and customer assurance functionality to various accessinterfaces. These functionalities are achieved by accessing the businessintegration services 108 and 122 and the business integration sharedworkspace 114. For example, an integrated billing service may beaccomplished through a business application service 102 accessing abusiness integrated service 122, which acquires usage data from varioussubscriber systems, such as applications 126 and 130. In anotherexample, address verification may be retrieved by a single businessintegration service 108 accessing a resource application 112 associatedwith the requested address. Business application service 102functionality is achieved through interaction with one or more businessintegration services and the business integration services sharedworkspace, each having access to various combinations of applications,data, rules, and process states.

In general, users utilizing a variety of communications, protocols andmethods access the business application service 102. The businessapplication service 102 accesses an appropriate business integrationservice or business integration shared workspace to acquire data or toperform a function. The business integration service or businessintegration shared workspace accesses data in remote distributed systemsto provide the desired functionality. In this manner, a commonapplications interface may be provided through the business applicationservice 102 while functionality is performed on a variety of remote anddiverse resource systems and applications 112, 126 and 130 and through ashared workspace 114.

FIG. 2 depicts a further embodiment of an enterprise integrationarchitecture. In this architecture, a variety of access methods areprovided to diverse management and support systems. Access methods, suchas desktop applications 250, web browsers 252, IVRs 254, andinterconnection services 256 communicate to business applicationservices 232. The business application services 232 access businessintegration services 210 that in turn access a variety of diversebusiness management systems 204, operational support systems 206, andexternal suppliers and providers 208. In this manner, diverse accesssystems may influence the functionality of diverse resource systems andinterfaces.

The business application services 232 may be performed by one or morecomputational systems or servers. The business application services 232may include customer care services 234 and provider care services 246.The customer care services 234 may include mass market sales negotiation236, large business complex ordering 238, problem resolution 240,self-service 242, and a convergent information inquiry 244. The providercare services 246 may include supplier or partner administrationservices 248. The business application services 232 may function tocontrol workflow processes and manage sessions and states. The businessapplication services 232 may provide such functionality by accessingbusiness integration services 210.

The business integration services 210 may be performed by one or morecomputational systems or servers. The business integration services 210may manage and execute tasks and provide stateless business functions.This management and task execution may include providing interfaces,system integration, translation, coordination, scheduling, notification,caching, staging, and metadata repositories. Exemplary embodiments ofthe business integration services 210 include product management 212,customer information management 214, order/service request management216, network resource management 218, service management 220, locationinformation management 222, usage management 224, rating and pricing226, bill preparation 228, and trouble administration 230. Thesebusiness integration services 210 may function to access diverseresource systems and interfaces through the shared distributed computinginfrastructure 260. For example, the business integration services 210may access business management systems 204. These business managementsystems 204 may include procurement, human resources, finances, andenterprise data warehouse (EDW) functionality. In some embodiments, thebusiness management systems 204 may take the form of legacy databasesystems, scuh as SAP or Oracle, among other similar systems. Thebusiness integration services 210 may also access operational supportsystems 206 through the shared distributed computing infrastructure 260.These operational support systems 206 may include ordering,provisioning, assurance, marketing, billing, work administration,dispatching, and monitoring functions. Further, the business integrationservices 210 may access external suppliers and providers 208 through theshared distributed computing infrastructure 260. These externalsuppliers and providers may include long distance companies, networkresource suppliers, equipment suppliers, exchanges, and LECs, amongothers.

The shared distributed computing infrastructure 260 may include sharedinfrastructure functions such as communications management, directorycontrol, infrastructure management, security, and interconnectionservices. This infrastructure may be implemented using screen scrapingsuch as SNA LU2, application peer-to-peer communications such as SNA-LU6.2, IBM MQ Series, TCP/IP socket level programming, and other standardinterfaces, such as CORBA, JAVA RMI/IIOP, JMS, JDBC, andmessage-oriented middleware. The network resources 202 may includenetwork equipment such as switches, routers, connections, and remoteterminals.

In one exemplary embodiment, a consumer may access a system through aweb browser 252. The web browser may direct communication with thebusiness application services 232 such as the consumer care services 234(e.g. self service 242). This customer care module 234 may then access abusiness integration services module, such as the customer informationmanagement module 214. The customer information management module 214may selectively communicate with a business management system 204. Usingsuch a communications path, a consumer may change their associatedcustomer information. In this manner, consumers located in differinggeographic regions may access a common website to change information ondiverse resource systems.

In another example, a competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC) mayaccess a business application service 232 through an interconnectionservice 256. The CLEC may attempt to validate an address or facilitate achannel facility assignment. The business application service 232 maythen access a module associated with the business integration service210, such as the location information management module 222 or thenetwork resource management module 218. The business integration service210 may then access the business management systems 204 or theoperational support systems 206 to facilitate the data transfer orfunctionality sought by the CLEC. In general, various examples can beenvisioned that show a diverse set of access points and protocolsaccessing a diverse set of resource systems and interfaces to provide acommon set of application services.

FIG. 3 depicts a further exemplary embodiment of an enterpriseintegration architecture. In this exemplary embodiment, various customerchannels 302 access a business application framework 304. This businessapplication services framework 304 has infrastructure interfaces 306.These infrastructure interfaces 306 access the infrastructure systemservices 308. The business application services framework 304 mayprovide various functionality including billing, assurance andfulfillment.

The infrastructure system services 308 provide the mechanisms andadaptations to enable information exchange. The infrastructure systemservices 308 may include industry standard internet protocols andservices, such as CORBA, Jini, and HTTP; interface and datarepresentations, such as XML, and IDL; integration enabling tools;adaptation design patterns; and naming services. The infrastructuresystem services 308 may include various functional modules such aslogging services 312, directory services 314, security services 316,message services 318, persistence management services 320, applicationmanagement services 322, transactional management services 324, andbusiness process management services 326.

The infrastructure system services 308 may provide an applicationmanagement service 322 such as a software management capability. Thiscapability may permit operation, administration, and maintenancecapabilities. The infrastructure system services 308 may also provide aconfiguration policy rules interface. The process management services326 may provide a common rules repository for workflow and policybehavior. The security services 316 may apply common security policiesacross all layers and modules. For example, the permissions ofinitiators of object invocation may be validated prior to execution. Thelogging services 312 may log communication between various modules. Forexample, requests and responses from the business application serviceand business integration service systems may be logged by loggingservices 312. Persistence management services 320 may control thecaching of objects. Messaging services 318 may utilize messagingstandards such as Java Messaging Services (JMS) to provide synchronous,asynchronous, point-to-point, and publish/subscribe messaging. Cachingservices may be used to improve processing time and data recovery, andto provide temporary persistence containers. Directory services 314 maybe used for looking up distributed service registrations and may permitfederation of nane spaces across numerous software and hardwareplatforms. The infrastructure system services 308 may also haveinfrastructure interfaces for providing common access specifications.

The business application services framework 304 and the infrastructuresystems services 308 may access a business integration servicesframework 330 through an infrastructure interface 332. The businessintegration service framework 330 may include multi-layered logic. Thismulti-layered logic may include an interface services layer, a businesslogic layer, a domain object layer, and a resource connector layer.Through these layers, the business integration service framework 330 mayconnect with and interact with multiple diverse and distributed resourcechannels 328. With such a system, distributed and diverse customerchannels 302 may access a common application services framework 304.This framework 304 may take advantage of reusable infrastructure systemsservices 308 and the common business integration services framework 330to facilitate communication with various distributed and diverseresources 328. For example, various CLECs may optionally access billinginformation through a variety of proprietary or standard protocols. Thebilling information can be retrieved from diverse resource channels 328through common reusable infrastructure systems and frameworks.

FIG. 4 depicts another exemplary embodiment of an enterprise integrationarchitecture. Interconnection services 432 connect to a commoncommunications bus 402 to provide access to business applicationservices 418. These business application services 418 in turn access thesame communications bus 402 to provide access to the businessintegration services 410. In addition, various policy managers 404,access services 426, and system services 448 may access the commoncommunications bus 402.

The common communications bus 402 may provide various functionality thatconforms to communications standards such as CORBA/IIOP, Java RMI/IIOP,JMS, JDBC, and other message-oriented middleware.

The interconnection services 432 provide access to various interfaces,customers, and consumers. For example, trading exchanges 446 andinternal or external clients and system interfaces 444 may access theinterconnection services 432 through various means. These clients 446and 444 may access a secured firewall 434 or a web server 436 throughthe Internet 442. In another embodiment, the client and systeminterfaces 444 may access the interconnection services 432 through anEBOND open system interconnect (OSI) common management informationprotocol (CMIP) system 438, CORBA, or an electronic document interchange(EDI) file transfer system 440. Through these access means 434, 436,438, and 440, the clients 444 and exchanges 446 may access thefunctionality of the business application services 418 by connectingwith the common communications bus 402 through the interconnectionsservices 432.

The business application services 418 may include services such as salesmodules 420, ordering modules 422, and problem handling modules 424.These modules may provide a common interface to clients and customersfor accessing diverse resource systems. The business applicationservices 418 may access the business integration services 410 throughthe common communications bus 402.

The business integration services 410 provide access to modules such asproduct management 412, customer information management 414, and servicelevel agreement management 416. The business integration services 410may, in turn, access the access services 426 to provide access toresource systems, such as CRIS 428 and service order retrievaldistribution (SORD) 430 modules, among other diverse and distributedresource systems.

In addition, various other services and systems may access the commoncommunications bus 402. These systems may function to manage the commoncommunications bus or the other component systems. For example, policymanagement systems 404 may connect to the communications bus 402. Apolicy management system 404 may include security systems 406 andproduct manager systems 408. The system services systems 448 may provideaccess to the communications bus 402, to directory systems 450, securitysystems 452, and management systems 454.

FIG. 5 depicts an exemplary business application service that has beenadapted from the framework published by the Telemanagement Forum as theTelecom Operations Map (TOM). The eTOM may also be implemented as abusiness application service. The TMF/TOM and eTOM are business processmodels that are useful as a framework for standardization.

In FIG. 5, a customer or client 502 may interact with the frameworkthrough a customer interface management system 504. The frameworkprovides for three broad categories of functionality, includingfulfillment, assurance, and billing. These broad functionality areas arearranged in levels such as customer care processes 506, servicedevelopment and operations processes 518, and network and systemmanagement processes 530. For example, fulfillment functionality may bearranged in terms of sales modules 508 and order handling modules 510arranged in the customer care processes level 506. Services planning anddevelopment modules 520 and service configuration modules 522 arearranged in the service development and operations processes level 518,and network planning and development modules 532 and networkprovisioning modules 534 are arranged in the network and systemmanagement processes 530.

Similarly, assurance functionality may be provided using problemhandling modules 512 and customer QOS management 514 in the customercare processes level 506; service problem resolution module 524 andservice quality management 526 in the service development and operationsprocesses level 518; and network inventory management 536 and networkmaintenance and restoration module 538 in the network and systemsmanagement processes level 530. Billing functionality may be providedthrough invoice collection modules 516 in the customer care processeslevel 506; rating and discounting modules 528 in the servicesdevelopment and operations processes level 518, and network datamanagement module 540 in the network and systems management processeslevel 530. Through these high-level business application servicemodules, more specific process flows can be identified. Through thesespecific process flows, the business application services may access thephysical network 542. For example, various modules may access a businessintegration services system.

With an application service including the example described above, aninterface for federated access to customer data may be provided. Thisfederated access may aggregate and manage customer data from diverseresource systems. The customer data may include personal customerinformation, usage data, subscription service data, service requestdata, address data, and telephone number data, among others. Forexample, the federated access may result in an aggregate bill includingcharges for several diverse communications services and products.

FIG. 6 depicts an exemplary embodiment of a business integration serviceapplication. The business integration services application 604 mayreside on one or more servers and acts as an intermediary system betweenthe business application services system 602 and the resource system606. In this exemplary embodiment, the business integration servicesapplication 604 includes a layered architecture integrated through infrasystem services 608.

The layered structure may include an interface services layer 610, abusiness logic layer 612, a domain object layer 614, and a resourceconnector layer 616. Each layer may be instantiated multiple times. Theinterface services layer 610 may provide interfaces to systems such asbusiness application services system 602.

Communications from the business application services system 602 arereceived and directed to the business logic layer 612. The businesslogic layer 612 provides business logic to control the flow andenforcement of enterprise business rules and policies for the businessintegration services. This business logic may be separated from theknowledge of the resource systems through domain objects. The businesslogic layer 612 accesses the domain object layer 614 to instantiatedomain objects, which in turn may access resource system 606 through theresource connection layer 616. The domain object layer 614 integratesdata from various resources into the business logic layer functionality.The domain object layer 614 may access data on resource systems throughthe resource connector layer 616. In this manner, the domain objectlayer 614 may integrate and manipulate data without detailed knowledgeof the resource interface systems. The resource connector layer 616connects and interfaces with diverse resource systems using varioustranslators, connectors, and parsers.

FIG. 7 depicts an expanded interface services layer 704. The interfaceservices layer 704 interacts with the business application servicessystem 702 through various adaptors. These adaptors may includeEnterprise Java Bean (EJB) adaptor 710, Java Messaging Service (JMS)adaptor 712, Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) adaptor714, web services adaptor 716, internal middleware adaptor 718, and IBM®Message Queue (MQ) Series adaptor 720, among other adaptors. With theseadaptors, the integration services layer may integrate with the businessapplication services system 702 and a Java interface 706 associated withthe business logic layer 708.

FIG. 8 depicts an illustrative business logic layer 806. The businesslogic layer 806 provides business logic that controls process flow andenforces enterprise business rules and policies. The business logiclayer 806 interacts with the interface services layer 802 through aninterface 804 and, also, interacts with the domain object layer 810through an interface 808. The business logic layer 806 may also interactwith workflow process logic 812 and a rules engine 814. The businesslogic layer 806 may provide various functionality including productmanagement, customer information management, order management, networkresource management, service management, location informationmanagement, usage management, rating and pricing, bill preparation, andtrouble administration. The business logic layer 806 may use a commonidentity or access key provided by the business application service.

FIG. 9 depicts an illustrative domain object layer 906. The domainobject layer 906 provides instances of domain objects to the businesslogic layer 902 and interacts with the business logic layer 902 throughan interface 904. The domain object layer 906 also interacts with theresource connector layer 910. The domain object layer 906 may include atransformation service 908 that transforms the information that isstored in various resource systems into data object instances. Aresource connection layer may access and translate data via resourceconnectors. This data may be provided to the domain object layer 906 fortransformation into domain objects. In addition, the domain object layer906 may interact with workflow process logic 912, rules engine 914 anddomain object cache 916. For example, the process logic 912, rulesassociated with the rules engine 914, and management of domain objectcache 916 may be influenced by the instances of the domain objects. Theworkflow process logic 912 and rules engine 914 may, in turn, influencethe actions of the business logic layer 902.

To create a domain object, the domain object layer 906 determines theresource system transactions that may be used to create a requesteddomain object. In part, the domain object layer 906 may be directed bydrivers or controllers in the business logic layer 902. Then, the domainobject layer 906 requests the resource connection layer 910 to performthe resource system transactions. The domain object layer 906 translatesthe results of the resource system transactions into domain objects. Thedomain object layer 910 may use the common identity or access keyprovided by the business application service when communicating with theresource connector layer 910.

Persistence of domain objects may be utilized through the domain objectcache 916. Domain objects may be cached as requested or pre-fetchedaccording to rules and policies. These rules and policies may also betuned at runtime to enhance performance.

FIG. 10 depicts an illustrative method for creating and using a domainobject. A first communication is received, at step 1002. This firstcommunication may, for example, be a request for an address validation,a channel facility assignment request, a telephone number inquiry, atelephone number cancellation, a telephone number reservation, aninformation request, or a transaction request. A domain object isinstantiated, at step 1004. Then, interaction is initiated with aresource system, at step 1006. The resource systems may, for example, bea PREMIS, ASON, or TIRKS® system. In the event that a response isprovided by the resource system, the response is transformed into thedomain object, at step 1008. The system, then, provides a secondcommunication, at step 1010. This second communication may be sent to abusiness application service and provided to a requester.

FIG. 11 depicts an expanded resource connector layer 1106. The resourceconnector layer 1106 communicates with the domain object layer 1102through a Java resource message object 1109. The resource connectorlayer 1106 includes connectors, parsers and services, such as XML parser1108, data representation format (DRF) parser 1110, translation services1112, resource message cache 1114, connection pooling 1116, JavaConnection Architecture (JCA) connector 1118, CORBA connector 1120, JMSconnector 1122, IBM® MQ Series connector 1124, internal middlewareconnector 1126, and JDBC connector 1128. Through the resource connectorlayer 1106, the domain object layer 1102 may communicate with thediverse resource systems 1130.

For example, the resource connector layer 1106 may receive a requestfrom the domain object layer 1102. The resource connector layer 1106may, then, connect to resource systems to facilitate a transaction. Theresults of the transaction are then translated into a fielded response.The transaction results are then provided to the domain object layer1102.

To integrate a resource system into the architecture, an adaptor orconnector may be coupled to or given access to the resource system. Theadaptor or connector may also be coupled to a resource channel of thedistributed computing system or business integration service. In thismanner, legacy systems, diverse operational support systems, diversebilling support systems, and diverse facility systems may be integratedinto the enterprise infrastructure. Such integration may be useful whenmerging or acquiring telecommunication related companies serving diverseregions or offering diverse services.

FIG. 12 depicts an exemplary method for use by the resource layer. Adomain object may request data or a transaction. In response to arequest, the resource layer may request a transaction, at step 1202. Thetransaction may be a database query, facility assignment, or resourceallocation, among others. The resource layer connects to the resourcesystem, at step 1204. A response or result from the resource system ortransaction may be translated, at a step 1206. For example, the responsemay be translated into fielded data. The translated response may then beprovided to the domain object or other layers of the businessintegration service, at a step 1208.

FIG. 13 depicts a further example of the layered business integrationservice system. A business logic layer 1302 is coupled to a domainobject layer 1304. The business logic layer 1302 includes functionalmodules such as product management (PM) 1310, service resourcemanagement (SRM) 1312, location information management (LIM) 1314,billing information management (BIM) 1316, network resource management(NRM) 1318, service management (SM) 1320, availability management (AM)1322, customer information management (CIM) 1324, network addressmanagement (NAM) 1326, resource management (RM) 1328, and troublemanagement (TM) 1330. The product management module 1310 integratesproduct information into the enterprise. The service request managementmodule 1312 integrates service request information into the enterprise.The location information management module 1314 integrates locationinformation into the enterprise. The billing information managementmodule 1316 integrates billing information into the enterprise. Thenetwork resource management module 1318 integrates network resourceinformation into the enterprise. This network resource management module1318 may have similar functions to the network address management module1326 and resource management module 1328. The service management module1320 integrates service information into the enterprise. Theavailability management module 1322 integrates product feature andservice availability information into the enterprise. The customerinformation management module 1324 integrates customer information intothe enterprise. The network address management 1326 integrates networkaddress information into the enterprise. The resource management module1328 integrates network resource information into the enterprise. Thetrouble management module 1330 integrates trouble report informationinto the enterprise. These modules function along with the businesslogic layer 1302 to determine what data to gather or action tofacilitate in response to communication from a business applicationservice. The business logic layer 1302 and its modules instantiateobjects associated with the domain object layer 1304. The domain objectlayer 1304 then accesses resource connections to acquire the requesteddata or facilitate the desired action. Information or results may thenbe transferred back through the domain object layer 1304 to the businesslogic layer 1302 and out to the requesting business application servicesystem.

FIG. 14 represents operation of an exemplary business integrationservices system in action in response to various business applicationservices events. The business integration services system providesbusiness logic and resource interaction. Events such as BAS 1 1402, BAS2 1404, and BAS 3 1406 are communicated through the communicationservices 1410 to various business logic modules such as productmanagement 1412, service request management 1414, location informationmanagement 1414, billing information management 1418, network resourcemanagement 1420 and service management 1422. These business logicmodules determine what information or action is needed in response tothe business application services event. These modules then communicatethrough a communications service 1430 to a business integration servicesworkspace 1470. This business integration services workspace 1470 may beorganized into various factory elements. For example, factory elements1432, 1434, and 1436 are connected to domain object models 1440,business process management 1450 and policy management 1460,respectively. The business logic modules may, using a domain object,access product data, subscription data, accounting, and inventory data,among others. In addition, the systems may access business processmanagement 1450 or policy management 1460. In this manner, any onebusiness logic module may access one or more of the logical factories1432, 1434, and 1436 to perform the desired action or to acquire therequested data.

The above disclosed subject matter is to be considered illustrative, andnot restrictive, and the appended claims are intended to cover all suchmodifications, enhancements, and other embodiments which fall within thetrue spirit and scope of the present invention. Thus, to the maximumextent allowed by law, the scope of the present invention is to bedetermined by the broadest permissible interpretation of the followingclaims and their equivalents, and shall not be restricted or limited bythe foregoing detailed description.

1. A distributed computer system for use in connection withtelecommunications operational support, the distributed computer systemcomprising: a common integration communication element; atelecommunication related business application; an adapter moduleresponsive to the telecommunication related business application coupledto the common integration communication element; and an integrationservices module coupled to the common integration communication element.2. The distributed computer system of claim 1, further comprising anintegrated services module adapter coupled to the integration servicesmodule and an integrated services software application accessible to theintegrated services module via the integrated services module adapter.3. The distributed computer system of claim 2, wherein thetelecommunication related business application is loaded onto a firsthardware element and the integration services software application isloaded onto a second hardware element, the first hardware elementlocated remotely from the second hardware element.
 4. The distributedcomputer system of claim 1, further comprising a second integrationservices module coupled to the common integration communication element,a first integrated services application coupled to the secondintegration services module via a first adapter, and a second integratedservices application coupled to the second integration services modulevia a second adapter.
 5. The distributed computer system of claim 4,further comprising an integration services shared workspace element, theintegration services shared workspace element including shared data,processing rules, and process state information.
 6. The distributedcomputer system of claim 5, wherein the integration services sharedworkspace element comprises a domain object manager, a business processmanager, and a policy manager.
 7. The distributed computer system ofclaim 5, wherein the integration services shared workspace element isaccessible to the integrated services module and to the secondintegration services module via the common integration communicationelement.
 8. An enterprise integration architecture comprising: aplurality of user access elements; a distributed computing systeminfrastructure responsive to each of the plurality of user accesselements; a plurality of telecommunication related software applicationservices responsive to the distributed computing system infrastructure;a plurality of telecommunication network computing resources includingbusiness management resources, operational support resources andexternal enterprise communication resources; and an integration servicesplatform to provide a common service-oriented interface to the pluralityof telecommunication related software application services, theintegration services platform configured to retrieve system-specificdata from the plurality of telecommunication network computingresources.
 9. The enterprise integration architecture of claim 8,wherein the distributed computing system infrastructure comprisesstandardized communication, directory, management, and interconnectionservices.
 10. The enterprise integration architecture of claim 8,wherein the integration services platform comprises product management,customer information management, order/service request management, andlocation information management services.
 11. The enterprise integrationarchitecture of claim 10, wherein the integration services platformfurther comprises network resources management, service management,usage management, rating and pricing configuration, bill preparation,and trouble administration.
 12. The enterprise integration architectureof claim 8, wherein the plurality of telecommunications networkcomputing resources comprises resources selected from the groupconsisting of ordering, provisioning, assurance, marketing, billing,work administration, and dispatching.
 13. The enterprise integrationarchitecture of claim 8, wherein the plurality of telecommunicationsrelated software application services comprises fulfillment services,assurance services, and billing services.
 14. The enterprise integrationarchitecture of claim 13, wherein the fulfillment services compriseservices for sales, order handling, service planning and development,service configuration, network planning and development, and networkprovisioning.
 15. The enterprise integration architecture of claim 13,wherein the assurance services comprise services for problem handling,customer questions management, service problem resolution, servicequality management, network inventory management, and networkmaintenance and restoration.
 16. The enterprise integration architectureof claim 13, wherein the billing services comprise services forinvoicing and collections, rating and discounting, and network datamanagement.
 17. A distributed computing system comprising: a pluralityof channel access interfaces; an application services framework coupledto the plurality of channel access interfaces, the application servicesframework including billing, fulfillment, and customer assurancefunctionality, the application services framework having a firstdistributed infrastructure interface; a common integration servicesframework including a plurality of shared layered integration services,the common integration services framework having a second distributedinfrastructure interface; and a distributed infrastructure system havinga plurality of distributed networked computing elements, the distributedinfrastructure system responsive to the first distributed infrastructureinterface and to the second distributed infrastructure interface. 18.The distributed computing system of claim 17, wherein the distributedinfrastructure system provides a plurality of shared services.
 19. Thedistributed computing system of claim 18, wherein the plurality ofdistributed networked computing elements comprises a data loggingservice, a directory service, a security service, a messaging service, apersistence management service, an application management service, atransaction management service, and a business process managementservice.
 20. The distributed computing system of claim 17, furthercomprising a plurality of resource channels to communicate withtelecommunication network resources.
 21. The distributed computingsystem of claim 17, wherein the plurality of shared layered integrationservices includes an interface service layer, a business logic layer, adomain object layer, and a resource connector layer.
 22. The distributedcomputer system of claim 21, wherein the interface services layercomprises a first adapter for interfacing with the application servicesframework and communicating with a second JAVA type interface.
 23. Thedistributed computer system of claim 21, wherein the business logiclayer comprises a first JAVA type interface and a plurality of businesslogic modules, the plurality of business logic modules having access toa second JAVA type interface of a domain object layer.
 24. Thedistributed computer system of claim 21, wherein the domain object layercomprises a JAVA type interface and performs a translation service witha resource connector layer.
 25. The distributed computer system of claim21, wherein the resource connector layer comprises a plurality of JAVAresource message objects operable for communication with a plurality ofresource systems.
 26. The distributed computer system of claim 17,wherein the plurality of channel access interfaces are accessible bycustomers and third party local exchange carriers.
 27. The distributedcomputer system of claim 17 further comprising a plurality of resourceaccess interfaces.
 28. The distributed computer system of claim 27,wherein the plurality of resource access interfaces access a pluralityof service providers.
 29. The distributed computer system of claim 27,wherein the plurality of services providers include alliance partners,local exchange carriers, long distance carriers, and equipmentsuppliers.
 30. A distributed computing system comprising: a plurality ofcustomer channel access interfaces; an application services frameworkcoupled to the plurality of customer channel access interfaces, theapplication services fiamework including billing, fulfillment, andcustomer assurance functionality, the application services frameworkhaving a first distributed infrastructure interface; a commonintegration services framework including a plurality of shared layeredintegration services, the common integration services framework having asecond distributed infrastructure interface; a distributedinfrastructure system having a plurality of distributed networkedcomputing elements, the distributed infrastructure system responsive tothe first distributed infrastructure interface and to the seconddistributed infrastructure interface; and a plurality of resourcechannels to communicate with telecommunication network resources whereinat least one of the plurality of telecommunication network resources isa legacy system having a proprietary interface and an adapter to allowthe legacy system to be accessed via at least one of the resourcechannels.
 31. A method of integrating an information technology elementassociated with a telecommunication network system into a distributedcomputing system, the method comprising: attaching an adapter componentto the information technology element; and coupling the adaptercomponent to a resource channel of the distributed computing system,wherein the resource channel is coupled to a distributed infrastructuresystem having a plurality of distributed networked computing elements,the distributed infrastructure system supporting an application servicesframework and a common integration services framework, the applicationservices framework including telecommunications billing, fulfillment,and customer service functionality, the common integration servicesframework including a plurality of shared integration services.
 32. Themethod of claim 31, further comprising sending a request from anapplication within the application services framework to the informationtechnology element via the distributed infrastructure system and via theresource channel.
 33. The method of claim 32, further comprisingretrieving embedded data from within the information technology elementand communicating the embedded data to a user interface accessible tothe application services framework.
 34. The method of claim 31, whereinthe information technology element is a legacy database system, legacyoperations support systems, and legacy network equipment.
 35. The methodof claim 31, wherein the information technology element is an acquiredasset relating to a financial transaction.
 36. The method of claim 35,wherein the financial transaction is one of a merger and an acquisition.37. The method of claim 31, wherein the common integration servicesframework is implemented as a Java type of integration server.
 38. Themethod of claim 31 further comprising mapping embedded data locationsfrom within the information technology element to a domain object withinthe common integration services framework.
 39. A distributed computersystem comprising: an interconnection service coupled to a plurality ofaccess interfaces; a distributed communications infrastructure coupledto the interconnection service; an application service coupled to thedistributed communications infrastructure, the application servicecomprising billing, fulfillment, and customer assurance functionality;and an integration service coupled to the distributed communicationsinfrastructure, the integration service comprising product management,customer information management, and service level agreement managementfunctionality.
 40. The distributed computer system of claim 39 furthercomprising a policy management service coupled to the distributedcommunications infrastructure, the policy management service comprisingsecurity and product management functionality.
 41. The distributedcomputer system of claim 39 further comprising a system service coupledto the distributed communications infrastructure, the system servicescomprising directory, security, and management functionality.
 42. Thedistributed computer system of claim 39 further comprising accessservice coupled to the distributed communications infrastructure, theaccess services providing access to CRIS and Service Order RetrievalDistribution (SORD) functionality.